A DAY'S DRIVE IN THREE STATES 29 



one left to rest ? — a suggestion, I need 

 hardly say, that squinted hard toward the 

 horse in sight before us across the field. 

 The farmer approved of the idea ; only 

 where was the horse to come from ? Moun- 

 tain farmers, as I was to learn afterward, — 

 and a strange state of things it seemed to a 

 pilgrim from Yankee land, — are mostly too 

 poor to support a horse, or even a mule. 

 The man would let us have his, of course, 

 but it was a young thing that had never 

 been hitched up. "But I tell you," he 

 broke out, after a minute's reflection. " You 

 know So-and-So, don't you ? He has a pair 

 of mules. Perhaps you could get one of 

 them." " Good ! " said I, and we drove on 

 a mile or two farther, — and by this time it 

 was driving, — till we came to a cross-road, 

 the only one that I recall on the whole day's 

 route, though there must have been others, 

 I suppose. The owner of the mules — whose 

 exceptional opulence should have kept his 

 name remembered — lived down that road a 

 piece, the driver said. If I would stay by 

 the wagon, he would go down there, and be 

 back as quickly as possible. 



He was gone half an hour or more, while 



